Admiring with the Heart
by pocketnin
Summary: Kakashi's on a mission to uncover a conspiracy threatening the village. When his adversary turns out to be a dark figure from Iruka's past, they both must work together to save Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Admiring with the Heart (1/?)

**Author:** lilpocketninja

**Rating:** R

**Warnings:** Gore and the aftermath there of (CSI-level stuff); language; more plot than romance.

**Pairings:** Kakashi/Iruka (eventually)

**Notes**: Well, here it 'tis. My Iruka Story with Plot in (-dybatto). whew Gotta warn you, I haven't written anything that's not academic, role-play, or a drabble in over _two years _so I'm damn rustyPlease, please point out any errors you see with mechanics, plot, and characters – I'm still gettin_g _sea-legs in the Naruto fandom so I can use all the help I can get!

"To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind." --Theophile Gautier

Covered in vomit, smelling of shit, and smiling contentedly, Umino Iruka left the Konoha orphanage whistling softly. Though he loathed to admit it when chasing down this year's insane prankster – Naruto, Konohamaru, Iruka, they went by different names but were all the same – Iruka loved children. That was why he was smiling instead of cursing the twice-damned flu that had wracked the younger orphans and left Iruka covered in white spit-up from the top of his pony-tail to the bottom of his sandals. He squelched as he walked.

As he nodded to the civilian woman at the front desk and the ANBU checking in for nursery rotation, the sun had just begun to wash over the tops of Konoha's houses and bathe the whole world in soft, red light. The light made the school teacher frown; crimson skies reminded him of Kyuubi's attack and the memory made for an unpleasant start of the day. His students would undoubtedly suffer for his sudden morbid mood, the sense of paranoia and foreboding creeping over their sensei's thoughts. Iruka forced himself to dismiss the images from his mind's eye as he raced over the rooftops back to his own tiny, barely lived in apartment for a quick shower and change before officially starting his day. After all, the children in the orphanage would be guarded by an ANBU. The masked man had started showing up a few months ago, joining in the rotation of adults who volunteered eight- or twelve-hour blocks of time looking after all the orphans produced by a village of shinobi. Iruka had asked Sandaime about it; the late Hokage had explained that some ninja needed the connection with the village's children to justify the killing they did to protect Konoha. Realizing that he had nothing to worry about, Iruka climbed into his apartment's window and shuffled to his bathroom while trying not to grind vomit into his carpet.

Bathing did a lot to alleviate Iruka's mood, though he still felt a little nervous for some reason he couldn't name. All through the school day he kept glancing out the window as though expecting to see Konoha laid to waste. Instead the village continued about its relatively peaceful existence – at least, until Iruka realized that the Konohamaru Squad had used his preoccupation to escape and the teacher tore through the streets screaming at them. The chase reminded Iruka of Naruto, though his former student had a lot more smarts than his current one, and a fond smile graced his face even as he dragged the three truants forcefully back to class. Thoughts of his favorite former student occupied Iruka throughout his shift at the mission desk and up until the time he got home and curled into his bed for a quick nap. The clock read six; his next shift at the orphanage started at nine. It was an exhausting schedule, but Iruka had long ago learned to live with the bare minimum of sleep during the week. Still, he treasured the few hours he did get and always slept deeply without dreams.

Which was why, when Iruka found himself hitting the ground running and in a cold sweat seconds after springing awake, he did not question his instincts. Though he would never have normally confessed that he believed in something so silly, his grandmother had always had an uncanny ability to know when something horrible was about to happen – and so had he. The teacher raced through the village, unmindful of his bare feet and the shocked and scandalized looks of the people he firmly shoved out of the way, his mind focusing on the place where he had first felt the foreboding: the orphanage.

The orphanage and orphan dorms were nearly on the other side of Konoha from Iruka's apartment. After he had finally managed to save enough to free himself from its dingy walls, Iruka had moved as far away as he could afford only to visit nearly every day to look in on Naruto or some other bright child that captured his easily-given attention. Pointless, really, and he regretted it as he wasted precious minutes jumping and weaving through the evening crowd at the marketplace before finally—finally arriving at his destination.

From inside he could hear crying. Of course children cried, but to Iruka's trained ears the sound signaled distress much deeper than a dirty diaper or empty stomach. In the space between one blink and the next, Iruka jumped to the second-story window where most of the sounds originated. He only paused long enough to take in the scene: ANBU-san from early this morning, holding a broadsword over a group of huddled children and a civilian volunteer. Procedure told Iruka to back away and get help, Jounin help. Fourteen years of caring and worrying too much propelled him through the window instead.

Iruka landed in a low crouch, his hands already filled with shuriken before the ANBU even noticed his presence. The man heard the clinking of Iruka's weapons as he prepared to throw, though, and spun around just as two bright flashes of silver flew forward; he dodged and Iruka's weapons wound up embedded in the plaster wall just above the civilian's head. She screamed and several of the children joined in wailing, a low level background noise compared to the blood rushing in Iruka's ears and his ragged breath.

"ANBU-san. Please put down the sword and let's talk about this?" Even as he said it, Iruka's hands began forming seals he knew by heart but hadn't used for years. _'Tiger – Ox – Horse – Dog – Dragon – Please let me hav__e enough for this to work –just this once--' _As his hands hurried through the motions and he concentrated on directing his chakra evenly, the ANBU wasted no time in watching his special technique.

Instead the man flung two handfuls of stilettos in his direction. Iruka jumped out of the way, landing on the wall and sticking there with his feet even as his hands continued their rapid gestures. As he ran around the room, feet slapping on the rabbit-print border and hands continuing in directing the jutsu, Iruka could feel his chakra production starting to lag. He did a loop up the wall and onto the ceiling with a trail of shuriken trailing in his wake before one of the ANBU's hands finally caught him around the arm and jerked down.

Iruka landed with a thud on the carpeted floor and curled onto his side trying to shield the ankle that had just been broken. Just a few – more – seals and the jutsu would be complete! Iruka's dark eyes squeezed shut and he blocked out the sound of the children's crying and the enemy standing over him and _the world_ long enough to complete the final 'dragon' and pull a last burst of chakra from deep within himself.

"MIIRA NO JUTSU!" As soon as the last syllable ripped from Iruka's lips, the air around his opponent began to shimmer. Chakra completely enveloped the man like a skin-tight bodysuit and then exploded out, drawing with it all the water from the man's body. He didn't have time to scream before his mummified corpse hit the ground in front of sixteen toddlers. Iruka saw none of it; as soon as he completed the jutsu he gave into the darkness and the water hovering in the air came crashing down with a splash.

-TBC-


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Admiring with the Heart (2/?)

**Author:** lilpocketninja

**Rating:** R

**Warnings:** Gore and the aftermath there of (CSI-level stuff); language; more plot than romance.

**Pairings:** Kakashi/Iruka (eventually)

**Notes**: Notes: My CSI-fangirlism rears its ugly head. D Yay. Also, am trying to name-smoosh Kakashi and Columbo and not having any success. 'Kakashbo'? 'Columashi'? (amuses self) Thanks to Monopoly for the beta and encouragement!

* * *

"To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind." --Theophile Gautier

* * *

Kakashi stared at Tsunade, not quiet believing what he was hearing. The two ANBU behind her shifted as she spoke; that they moved at all screamed their distress as loudly as a civilian scream. Kakashi, too, shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He realized he had lost the thread of what Tsunade was saying and mentally snapped back to attention.

"—All of the children are fine, and Iruka will be after a few days' sleep, but you can see why this needs to be investigated and taken care of quickly. The Hyuuga are already crawling up my ass about shutting down ANBU, ANBU wants to make sure one of their own does the investigating, and I just want the damn thing solved." To emphasize her frustration, the Hokage took a deep drink from a silver flask and wiped her mouth messily on the sleeve of her official robe of office. TonTon grunted from his mistress's lap, not appreciating her sharp tone of voice. Kakashi sympathized.

"Find out why Hatori – the Rooster – decided to attack a building full of children, and find out if he was working alone or if this is something bigger. I have a bad feeling, brat." Kakashi nodded, looking thoughtful and mulling over his memories of the man in question. The Rooster had never behaved unstably, but then few ANBU members did before they snapped and started killing people.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"I expect Iruka will be able to help you once he's on his feet again. He has S-ranked clearance…" Tsunade smirked at Kakashi's widened eye "… and he should be useful. Dismissed." Kakashi bowed.

As he left the room, Tsunade called out with a snort: "Oh, and Kakashi? Don't underestimate him! It pisses him off." Kakashi rolled his eyes and twirled his hand in a half-salute, half-dismissal.

A few minutes later, Kakashi stood in front of the morgue. While Tsunade clearly wanted him to make nice with the Chunin school teacher, Kakashi had never liked the man and chose to start here instead. After several minutes of proving his security clearance and identity, he finally made it into the back rooms. Under his mask, the jounin wrinkled his nose: the whole place smelled of death and antiseptic, two things he hated. Quickly shrugging it off, he made his way to the cold room and entered without knocking. When he saw the corpse lying on the slab, he let out a low whistle. The man examining the body looked up and grinned at him.

"Yosh. What've we got, Doc?" Kakashi enquired as he leaned over the cadaver, careful not to touch. Even by ninja standards, the remains were gruesome. The skin looked brown, leathery to the touch and completely dry. Under it, a fine layer of dust had settled, evidently made of dried out tissue shaken off the body during transit. Gross, Kakashi thought, but impressive.

Doc's grin widened at Kakashi's obvious surprise. The man was a medic-nin whose fascination with death had veered in a direction opposite of Orochimaru's. Rather than attempting to avoid death, Doc studied it and discovered new treatments and jutsu. Men like him were the reason it was dangerous for ninja bodies to fall into the hands of other villages; with a few tests, Doc could tell everything about a person's life. Kakashi found the man creepy, but useful – an opinion shared by most of the village. The man's appearance only reinforced it: his runny blue eyes bulged and crossed at random, and he walked with a clink from a wooden leg that echoed in the large, cool room as he made his way across it to grab his notes.

"What you're seeing here is, hn, the results of the 'Miira no Jutsu,' special technique of the deceased ANBU dragon. Performed by, hmm, Umino Iruka. To, uh, simplify: this jutsu sucks out all the water and chakra from a body. Happens almost instantly, turns the victim nearly to dust." Kakashi whistled again – he hadn't expected the schoolteacher to use such a powerful ninjutsu; even when Umino radiated anger, his chakra signature read as weak to the jounin. Granted, most people who weren't Sennin, Hokage, or demon vessels read as weak to Kakashi, but Umino seemed especially pitiful. A move like the one Doc described took a lot of chakra and razor sharp-control – Kakashi ought to know, since he had copied the jutsu from the ANBU in question years ago. No wonder Umino had ended up in the hospital, attempting such an advanced move. From what Kakashi had seen of the man, Iruka-sensei didn't know his place, but this – this was just stupidity. 'Or courage,' said a tiny idealistic voice in the back of Kakashi's mind. He squashed it.

"Any other jutsu used on this body you can detect? Mind control?" Doc shook his head, shrugging and holding out his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

"The jutsu sucks all of the chakra out of the victim's body. It would erase any evidence of – anything, really. Uh." Kakashi nodded, once, and gave a final glance over the body. There were a few nicks that looked fresher than the others, presumably created during the fight but otherwise – nothing. A total absence of spiritual energy. Kakashi shivered.

"Let me know if you figure anything out," Kakashi instructed before disappearing in an abrupt cloud of smoke.

Still unwilling to interview Iruka-sensei, Kakashi teleported to the orphanage instead. He'd never visited the place himself, though Yodaime had founded it and one of his students had grown up there. From the outside, the building looked more like a prison than a children's home. The copy-nin frowned, wondering how the stark, grey building had housed the rambunctious Naruto for the first ten years of his life. A smile tugged his lips when he spotted a faded string of orange obscenities at a six-year-old's eye level. Some things, it seemed, never change.

When he went from the heat of the almost-summer Konoha noon into the cool, dark reception area, Kakashi had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted. Like the outside of the building, the lobby looked depressing and oppressive. From somewhere in the distance, the sound of a wailing baby pulsed into the room. The place set Kakashi's teeth on edge.

Behind the desk sat a tired-looking woman who glanced up and gave him a tight smile even as her eyes sent a clear warning. Kakashi couldn't blame her for wanting him to go away, after what had happened the day before. The jounin had long since become desensitized to the way human beings treated each other, but the thought of some one attacking _war orphans_ made his firsts clench and his lazy mouth draw into a frown.

"I'm here to see the room where the attack took place." The woman stood gracelessly and led him along with slow, plodding steps.

"Anbu-san came in around five yesterday morning, like usual. He tends to work with the older kids, but with Naruto-kun gone we're short in the nursery so he went there instead," she explained in a weary voice as they walked through the back. Kakashi's eyebrows rose at the mention of his obnoxious former student; he hadn't know that the boy volunteered here. Maybe if he'd taken more of an interest in team seven's lives, like Iruka-sensei, things with them might not have ended in disaster. Kakashi shook that thought away as they stopped at a doorway painted in light pastel blue and radiating leftover killing intent.

Inside, the dark chakra became even more overbearing, along with an intense smell of decay wafting from a puddle near the center of the room. He walked over to it, using his chakra to keep himself mostly off the ground and not disturbing the footprints and blood splatter in the carpet. He stopped a foot from the stain, wishing his ANBU training and affinity with nin-dogs had not heightened his sense of smell quite so much. A quick glance verified Kakashi's theory that the liquid was the byproduct of the Miira no Jutsu.

Satisfied that he knew where the fight ended, Kakashi set about figuring out where it had _begun_. Unfortunately, half a dozen people – at least – had traipsed through here afterward, so the footprints were virtually useless, though he could at least see where the toddlers had been herded together into a definable corner. From that he could guess roughly what had happened, combined with the official reports from the receptionist and older children. The receptionist had been helping back here, and as soon as the Anbu started showing signs of agitation she had shoved all the children she could reach against the back wall and attempted to protect them from their attacker. Of course, she was a civilian, so her attempt would have gotten them killed had Umino not come bursting in at just the right moment. Suspicious, Kakashi thought, but dismissed it: Iruka-sensei had no reason to stage an attack. He was already high in the esteem of Tsunade-sama and several of the council members, so a rescue wouldn't boost his already high reputation enough to bother. No other reason presented itself, so the jounin felt certain that the speculation was ridiculous.

Humming and deciding that he'd seen all he could with his regular eye, Kakashi flipped his headband up and let his spinning red gaze circle the room. From the rapidly depleting blue and red swirls of chakra, the scene of battle easily snapped into place. The faintest blur floated in front of the row of cribs, a red burst of killing intent – then the blue of Umino bursting through the window– the swirling purples of their fight that took them all around the room – and then the near-blinding red surrounding the puddle of remains. Between he could spot several places where physical combat had probably taken place; Umino'd been getting his ass kicked, but in a chunnin verses Anbu fight that was to be expected. For Umino to still be _alive_ testified either to the Anbu's affected state of mind or the teacher's skill. Kakashi hmm'd again and covered his eye before walking out of the room and teleporting away.

A few seconds later, he popped back into existence in front of the hospital. Unlike a lot of people, Kakashi did not hate hospitals. They held no association with death for him – all the death he had witnessed was out on the battlefield, not in the peaceful confines of Konoha's medical center. Still, he wasn't looking forward to this interview and hung around for a few minutes outside, watching people over the orange cover of his book. Finally he sighed, pushed himself off the statue he had been leaning against, and walked in the direction opposite the hospital. As soon as he rounded a corner, Kakashi disappeared and was replaced by one Haruno Sakura. She had left the village three days ago on a mission for her new sensei, would not return for another ten, and had easy access to the entire hospital as Tsunade's protégé. If she came back and discovered that her former sensei had 'borrowed' her appearance for snooping, then there would be pain and yelling, but for now it was perfect.

Sakura/Kakashi strolled through the doors unchallenged, gave a bright smile to the receptionist, and hurried up two floors. No one even glanced his way as he grabbed the chart hanging outside the door and tried to make some sense of the shorthand covering the thick file. The first few pages contained standard information on birth and childhood illness, the report from when the teacher had obtained his scar during a standard academy training exercise, and shortly after that the handwriting switched to a familiar one: Tsunade's. What on earth would the Sennin have been doing treating a newly-minted genin? Kakashi raised one of Sakura's pink eyebrows and wandered over to a waiting area where he could more comfortably pursue the file.

A few hours later, the transformed copy-nin was startled out of his trance by a cup of coffee shoved under his nose. He looked up through Sakura's long eyelashes at the Hokage, who was smirking at him and sipping her own –- probably spiked – cup of steaming liquid. Kakashi accepted it calmly and took a long sip – it was nice to do it without the mask – before grinning sheepishly at her.

"If you wanted to learn about him, you should have _asked_. Not snooped around in my hospital." Kakashi grimaced; he preferred reading over people in every situation. Still, the file hadn't told him much. It had been filled with a lot of diagrams, medical shorthand, and magazine clippings with words longer than his hand. None of it meant anything to a non-medic-nin. Tsunade was right. The thought made him grimace again.

"So tell me, then. What's all this about? Monthly checkups aren't standard for a chunnin, are they?"

"Ask _him_, not _me_, brat. I won't tell you Iruka-sensei's secrets. They aren't relevant to the investigation. Focus on figuring this out, not on your curiosity!" Tsunade snapped, poking Kakashi in the chest with one long nail. He sighed theatrically and released the henge, popping back into his own form with a puff of smoke that drew a glare from the head nurse. Kakashi waved at her before Tsunade shoved him in the direction of Umino's room with instructions to "grow the hell up, already."

Stepping inside the room, Kakashi abandoned all sense of playfulness and slipped into what he called "mission mode." An expression of determination lit up his frequently boredom-dulled blue eyes as his gaze fell onto Umino. Rather than lying asleep as Kakashi had expected, the teacher sat in the bed grading papers and sipping something from a thermos. Around him, a riot of construction-paper cards declared his class's hope that he would get better soon and return to school before Asuma-sensei killed them all. Interspersed were huge vases of flowers, and Kakashi wondered who in the village was soppy enough to bring such extravagant bouquets to someone suffering from nothing more serious than chakra depletion. A familiar signature on a paper attached to a particularly large vase attracted his attention, and Kakashi found himself again surprised: it seemed that the Hokage herself wanted Umino to get well soon. He snorted, concluding that Tsunade had gone soft in her old age. The noise drew the teacher's attention away from his marking and Umino's eyes widened in surprise. Kakashi had to supress a laugh as the man struggled to find something polite to say despite his puzzlement.

"Kakashi-sensei! I – er –"

"Hello, Iruka-sensei. Feeling better?"

"Much, thank you," Umino responded automatically, though his tone still betrayed confusion as to why a jounin who held him in contempt would be coming to visit. Taking pity on the man, Kakashi decided he ought to explain rather than leave him gaping.

"I've been put in charge of the investigation of the incident. Tsunade-sama believes you will be of some assistance?" Now Umino looked as though he were back in familiar territory; the man nodded and looked thoughtful. Kakashi wondered why he showed no surprise that he had been drafted to help with an internal investigation, a job usually reserved for jounin.

"Tsunade-sensei has always had more confidence in me than I deserve, I'm afraid, but I will do my best to assist you in any way." Kakashi felt that there should be a limit to the number of times someone made him raise his eyebrow in a morning. Sensei? No one in the village called Tsunade that anymore, not even Shizune who had trained under her since her genin days. "Er, sama. Tsunade-sama," Umino corrected quickly, but the damage was done. Kakashi added this to a list of things he had to find out about the man before recalling Tsunade's words and realizing that he had slipped out of mission mode. He snapped back into it quickly.

"As soon as you're out of the hospital, we'll revisit the scene together. For now, though, I'll interview you. You haven't filled a report yet, have you?" His tone was mildly disapproving, though he had no right to be. After all, Kakashi's own mission completion/report filing gaps were legend in the missions office. Still, the surge of indignant anger from the teacher amused him.

"I have only just regained consciousness, Kakashi-sensei. But the report is right here," Umino ground out between his teeth, glaring at Kakashi and snatching a scroll from the table at his bedside. The jounin took the scroll thrust in his direction with an 'hm' and skimmed the tiny, neat characters only to discover that they matched the other reports almost perfectly. That proved either that they were telling the truth, or had all been mind wiped; a shinobi with as much experience as Kakashi dismissed nothing, especially in such suspicious circumstances.

"The jutsu you used – it isn't in the archives. Tell me about it," he demanded without taking his eyes off the report. Umino sighed and shifted, rubbing his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"The miira no jutsu is a technique developed by my father. It's a water jutsu, which is what my family specializes in. It coats a person in chakra –"

"I know how it works, yes. Your father developed it? Did he teach it to anyone?" If Umino was annoyed at being cut off, he didn't show it. Instead he continued rubbing his nose just above the scar and explaining without looking at Kakashi.

"No. I learned it from his journals, after his death. It is in the archives, by the way, just locked in the ANBU records room." Umino gave him a strange look; Kakashi didn't care. He was too busy being shocked that the overly polite school teacher with no sense of rank was evidently the son of the same Dragon-san Kakashi had worked with years ago in ANBU. That man had been quiet, efficient, and deadly –- dead opposite of Umino Iruka. Kakashi shook his head, trying to dislodge the shock and turned his attention back to the conversation.

"Ah. How did you manage to use it? A jutsu like that is probably A-class and you—"

"People do amazing things when their lives are on the line, Kakashi-sensei. Even mere chunin." The bitterness in Umino's voice made Kakashi look up sharply and study him for a long moment. The copy-nin felt the familiar twitch of curiosity that signaled an obsession, a new puzzle that would drive him crazy until he managed to snap every last piece into place. But, he acknowledged, that would have to wait until they figured out why the Rooster had snapped.

"They do; what you did was exceptional even under the circumstances. You should be tested for jounin." Kakashi felt no shame in the statement, though he disliked the man; it wasn't praise, it was the truth, and shinobi could not afford grudges or idiotic pride. He had expected a different reaction to the praise, however; instead of blushing, Umino scowled and glared at his hands.

"As I said, Kakashi-sensei. The circumstances were extraordinary. I am not jounin material, just a school teacher. I barely have the chakra to teach the children what they need to learn."

Before Kakashi could object, or try to counter Iruka's self loathing, a nurse busted in to check on the patient.

"Have you been bothering Umino-san?" The woman asked, her nostrils fairing in quiet anger and her eyes glinting at the man who dared distract Umino-san with something so unimportant as an A-class internal investigation. It was the same nurse that had seen Kakashi release the henge earlier, and he realized that he had made an enemy. The thought amused him.

"I was just leaving," he assured her, holding up his hands palm-outward. Rather than teleport away and risk even more of her ire, he took the conventional exit. As he closed the door behind himself, Kakashi caught a glance of Umino's face over his shoulder. The man was still frowning with a strange look of sorrow clouding his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Now that he knew where to find the records of the jutsu, Kakashi again visited the records archives. Reading the scroll only confirmed what he knew. The Jutsu was A-class, invented by Umino Takemoto, also known as Dragon-san IX (deceased). Under the list of known users, only three names appeared. Satisfied that Umino had performed the jutsu as he had said, Kakashi left the archives. On the way out, he crossed paths with Izumo, Kotetsu, and Shizune walking together to the canteen. As they walked away he heard their voices lower to excited whispers. Kakashi paused to listen.

"—Can believe he managed to pull that off," Kotetsu was saying to the other two.

"Tsunade-sama's very worried. He was her student, before—well, you know. Anyway, she chewed him out for an hour straight, saying how stupid he was for trying to do something that required so much chakra." Shizune added.

"Well, what else should he've done? Let all those kids die?" Kotetsu demanded. Izumo shushed him with a hand motion.

"Heard Hatake Kakashi is heading up the investigation. And Iruka's supposed to help him out."

"Poor bastard," Kotetsu murmured reverently.

"Which one?" asked Shizune, causing the three of them to dissolve into laughter.

Kakashi scowled as the gossips moved on to a new topic. As he walked in the opposite direction, whistling to himself and pretending to read, he mulled over the new information. Nearing the next place on his list, Kakashi forced himself to forget Umino's past and consider the mission. He made a mental list of all the facts and organized them neatly, then considered the importance and implications of each one. From the dusty corners of his mind, Kakashi called forth any memories of Hatori he had. Outside of ANBU, the two had never met. Because of their relative ages they had worked together very little before Kakashi quit the shadow organization. The man's file was squeaky clean, but then all the Anbu's records were censored to hell and back before going to the locked ANBU archives. Only the hokage at the time knew the details of any given mission, and most of the Rooster's missions had occurred under the Third. From the one or two assignments they had gone on together, nothing about the man stood out in Kakashi's mind. Anbu were trained to be unremarkable, after all.

Kakashi sighed in frustration and pocketed the book as he came to a stop in front of a plain apartment building. Like the man it had formerly housed, the building was unremarkable: neither ugly nor pretty, upscale nor run down. Just a building.

According to the file in Kakashi's pocket, the guy lived on the fourth floor – or, he had before Umino turned him into soup. The apartment – 41b – held no personal affects and less personality. It was not 'decorated' so much as 'furnished cheaply' with pieces that had probably come with the place. The only thing that made the apartment look lived in was the desk: papers hid the surface and there were thick red books piled all round the outer perimeter. One of these books lay open, along with an uncapped bottle of ink and a dirty paintbrush. Without touching anything Kakashi leaned over the desk and tried to decipher the writing.

It turned out to be either in code or a foreign language; Kakashi could read none of it, though he could see the writer's obvious distress as he wrote it. The entry ended with a long black line, and the pen nested at the end of it as though it had been thrown down the moment the scribe had finished.

After a quick but thorough search of the rest of the apartment – which turned up nothing except some rather disturbing porn – Kakashi gingerly removed the pen from the journal and started packing the red books in a box he found in the bedroom's near-empty closet. After he had them all, he teleported straight to the Hokage's office with the books and sat down in the floor to work.

Half an hour later, he had made no progress with the codes and was growing bored. Sometime while he had been absorbed in checking the code against all of Tsunade's manuals, TonTon had wandered in and was giving him a pitiful look. Kakashi stared for a moment and then made shooing motions. The pig grunted at him and trotted away – to jump in her owner's arms with a squeal of delight.

"The hell are you doing in my office, Hatake?" Tsunade demanded, scratching her pig between the ears.

"Ah, you see, the road to happiness and personal enlightenment happens to run—"

"Stow it, brat. What've you got?" Kakashi scowled, displeased with the interruption of his outrageous excuse, but held up one of the journals and waved it in the air like a flag. Tsunade snatched it and flipped through the pages with an unimpressed look.

"They're from Hitoshi's apartment?" The hokage asked. Kakashi nodded his confirmation, though he was unsure if she could see him since she never looked up.

"I can't read this, but you can bet he wouldn't put his grocery list on in an obscure code. Lucky for you, your partner specializes in code breaking."

"My partner?" Kakashi sputtered. Tsunade rolled her eyes and smacked the leather journal on his head.

"Iruka-sensei has spent the past eight years studying obscure codes, and I don't just mean pre-genin's handwriting. He invented our B-class code and improved the A-class," she snapped. Kakashi guessed her offence stemmed from his underestimating her former student, though why an academic had studied under the most physically powerful Sannin he didn't know.

"Hn. I'll bring this to him,"

"Do you know where he lives? He was discharged this morning." Kakashi shook his head and Tsunade sighed, scribbling an address on a scrap of paper from her desk.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me after you dump a huge workload on a cranky Iruka." She smirked as she eased down into her desk chair. He scowled at her before snatching the paper from her outstretched hand and marching out.

A few minutes late, Kakashi found himself wandering around a neighborhood which proved much nicer than he expected. Instead of the apartments where most of Konoha's singles lived, Umino occupied one of the homes for families nestled in the outer edges of the village and surrounded with lush trees. Kakashi stared at the house that belonged to the address over his book with a puzzled expression. As far as the jounin knew, Iruka was not married and did not seem like the type to father children out of wedlock. Why would a single man like Umino need a house? And how could he possibly afford it?

As he made his way to the door, Kakashi observed that the grass had grown a little too long and the leaves needed raking. In one corner of the yard lay a well-tended vegetable garden, and near the door stood several scorched lawn ornaments. Kakashi snorted and wondered if they were Naruto's work. He was still pondering it while he tapped on the door and slouched awkwardly waiting to gain admittance. Given how angry Umino had seemed the night before, Kakashi wondered how the Chunin would react to the intrusion. If Team Seven's enthusiastic academy horror stories proved accurate, non-lethal weapons would be throne and there would be yelling – lots of yelling. Nothing Kakashi couldn't handle, but he prepared himself for unpleasantness and a quick escape.

He did not prepare for Umino to answer the door sweaty and wearing only a pair of low-strung track pants. The sight stunned him for a moment and he stared: a network of scars covered the chunin's visible flesh, stretching over his muscles. Kakashi wondered if they all came from the same time as the one on Iruka's face. If Iruka noticed Kakashi's stare, he did not point it out. Instead he looked at the box of books in the jounin's arms with a raised eyebrow and an expectant look.

"Kakashi-sensei…? Is there anything I can do for you?" Iruka asked, his voice dancing between puzzlement and weariness. Kakashi looked up through his one half-closed eye and showed no sign of surprise as Iruka's words jerked him out of his observation. The eye curved into Kakashi's version of a smile.

"Well, you see, the Hokage was worried you would get bored, so she asked me to bring you a little light reading—" Iruka looked distinctly unimpressed.

"Please tell me that's not porn," he said with a sigh as he pulled one book out of the box and flipped through it. At first his dark eyes were uninterested, but he perked up as soon as he realized the journals were neither porn nor prank.

"I can't guarantee it's not porn written in code. Aren't you going to invite me inside, Iruka-sensei?" Without reacting to the taunt at all, Iruka stepped aside and waved vaguely without looking up. Kakashi took this as an invitation and walked in past Iruka. The Chunin – still not looking up from the coded book – shut the door with his bare foot and padded deeper into the interior of the traditionally decorated foyer. As he followed him, Kakashi observed several pictures of a young couple with baby Iruka and realized that the house must have belonged to Iruka's parents before they died; he had made a home with ghosts, just as Sasuke had. As they walked past the door to a dusty formal living room, Iruka looked over his shoulder and saw Kakashi studying his surroundings with interest.

"It's a little big for one person, but it never sold and I moved back here after I made Chunin and left the orphan dorms," Iruka explained, his voice light and still half-absorbed in the code.

"Hn," mumbled Kakashi, unsure of what to say but not rude enough to remain silent. While they talked they walked past a more lived-in kitchen – a coffee mug rested on the counter and a few dishes in the sink – before turning into an office. Iruka dumped the coded journal onto a paper-covered desk and began grabbing books from the shelves that lined three of the room's four walls. Rather than watch Umino, Kakashi again took the opportunity to observe his surroundings. The books on the shelves – organized by title – ranged a huge variety of subjects: teaching, cryptography, psychology, interrogation, taijutsu, and one entire wall of fiction.

Photos, drawings, and letters papered the remaining wall. Dozens of young ninja smiled brightly back at Kakashi, including a certain obnoxious blond in almost every shot. Kakashi hoped none of Iruka's other students ever came in this office, because his favoritism of Naruto showed here. Besides Naruto's many photographs, most of the papers on the wall proved to be rare 'A+' assignments from his academy days and letters scribbled hastily when Naruto and Jiriaya came across a ninja heading back to Konoha. Though Kakashi himself had dozens of similar letters, he had shoved them all in a drawer and forgotten about them after one or two readings. Naruto wrote much more personal things to Iruka, too; Kakashi's eyes lingered long enough to read a note detailing Naruto's attempts to woo a girl with displays of his strength in water counter. Of course, because he was Naruto, the attempt failed … Kakashi smiled, then frowned, wondering why none of his students confided anything personal in him like they did Iruka.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi started, though the twitch was so small no one but a ninja would see it. He realized Iruka had been speaking to him and tried to recall what the man had said.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. What did you say?" The man's brown eyes flashed in annoyance and Umino glowered a moment before deflating and repeating himself.

"I said" and his tone made Iruka's displeasure very clear— "that this looks like a completely original code. It will be a few days before I can get all these translated, since I have to crack it and then make my own cipher…"

"Oh." Kakashi stood still for a moment, wondering what exactly to do in the meanwhile, and Umino continued to give him a look that, while not a glare, still managed to convey a distinct unfriendliness.

"Let me know when you get it translated," The jounin ordered stiffly, and teleported away.

Iruka scowled and coughed at the flashy smoke left behind by the great copy-nine. He despised show offs; that nearly everyone in the village admired Hatake only made him angrier. Had a fresh new puzzle not waited in front of him, he might have gone and found Izumo, Kotetsu, Shizune, or Anko to bitch. Instead Iruka huffed and turned back to the journal.

An hour later, he had a sheet of doodles and fragments of writing. Realizing exactly how difficult his task would be, Iruka sent a short message to the academy and then went to the market. After buying enough food to last a week, Iruka returned to his house and settled down.

Four days and six hours of sleep later, Iruka had managed to translate only one of the journals. The code went beyond complex; Iruka itched to adapt it for ANBU use except he had in idea how to teach it. He barely understood it himself. Even for Iruka, one of Konoha's foremost cryptographers, each line took over an hour to translate.

The contents of the journal only magnified his frustration. On hour one hundred and four, Iruka grabbed the book and lobbed it across the room before stomping onto his desk, laying his forehead over the papers. While it was neither a grocery list nor pornography, the details written in the red book were prosaic enough that they might as well be. Page after page detailed the going-ons in the orphan dorms, including profiles of each child, notes on the regular volunteers – even a daily copy of the canteen's menu!

When he realized his translation sheet had stuck to his forehead, Iruka groaned and stood. His muscles protested and he stumbled, nearly collapsing but catching himself on his desk at the last minute. After his legs readjusted to standing he pushed himself off and paced around the room. Unconscious of what he was doing, Iruka reverted back to the problem-solving mode he had developed during his genin days under Tsunade.

"Okay. One: Anbu, no history of psychotic tendencies. Or, no more psychotic than most Anbu," Iruka said aloud, and the words echoed around the room. "Two, attacks a room full of toddlers without provocation. Three, keeps detailed notes on every orphan between thirteen and fifteen who lives in the orphanage."

The Chunin growled, pausing in his pacing to stare at the wall where he had taped photos of his students. As usual, one in particular caught his eye and Iruka reached a finger out to trace a close-up shot. A smile tugged his lips and coved the scar across his nose as the teacher wondered what his former student was learning now. The boy would be turning fourteen soon, Iruka knew, and wondered if he would see him--

Something snapped in Iruka's mind. Fourteen. He nearly tripped over his own feet in his rush to grab his translation from the desk. For a too-long second he fumbled through the papers, confirming something on each before moving to the next.

All the information on the orphans between thirteen and fifteen. Someone – the Rooster – wanted to find Naruto. No, not Naruto, Iruka mentally corrected – they wanted Kyuubi. A demon vessel could only be formed when a child was very young, usually as a baby – or, in Gaara of the Sand's case, in the womb. Iruka's eyebrows folded in confusion as his mind worked double-time. His fingers beat a tattoo on the desktop as his mind flew.

"Looking for Kyuubi," he mumbled to himself, sitting down and leaning his head back against the seat of the desk chair. "Let's assume that's right. Every adult in Konoha knows its Naruto. Anyone who had half-decent information networks knows it's Naruto. Who didn't have good intelligence at the time?" The answer came easily to Iruka, and it made his stomach clench. If he were right, international relations were about to get very sticky. Iruka left the desk chairs pinning as he ran from the room and dashed through the hallways to the door. He almost ran out without his shoes but stopped for too-long seconds to pull them on and then jumped the stairs from his door to the ground. Dirt flew up from his feet as they pounded the ground through his yard and then sped up once the rubber soles of his sandals hit pavement.

Mid-way to the Hokage's mansion, Iruka jerked to a stop in the street. Something felt off in a way only a shiobi could sense, a hair-raising wrongness that sent him into a defensive crouch. The route between his house and the Hokage's ran straight through a section of Konoha severely damaged by the attack during the Chunin exams. No one had yet bothered to rebuild it, so the entire neighborhood lay silent and dark. Now Iruka stood in the middle of an empty street feeling like a movie character as his sharp eyes caught movement through the window of an abandoned storefront.

His reflexes propelled Iruka to a rooftop before the enemy's shuriken left his hand and by the time the blade embedded in the wood he was street roofs down. Dark shadows spilled from the storefront, and then Iruka had company on his roof. Three of them, in his line of sight, and he guessed at least two more behind him. Every instinct told him to run, or teleport away, but one was impossible and the other was sure to get him killed.

One of the ninja behind him shifted and Iruka spun around, bringing his hands up to cover his face. An amateur's defense, but it as all he had right now with his decimated chakra reserves When an attack did not come, he lowered his hands to stare wearily at the spot in the shadows where he thought the movement had come from. The darkness changed texture as the figure hiding there stepped forward; as soon as the meager moonlight caught on the ninja's face, all the air flew from Iruka's lungs and raw panic seized him. Unlike when the Anbu attacked the nursery, or when Mizuki tried to kill Naruto, this panic held Iruka in place. His muscles tensed until he could hear his teeth grinding together and his shoulder shook. Iruka squeezed his eyes shut.

The ninja – wearing scratched stone headbands – smirked sharp, tight little smiles as they stepped forward. The man who had been hiding in the shadows clamped a hand on Iruka's shoulder just as the Chunin found the courage to flee.

"Hello, Iruka-kun," he whispered. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Admiring with the Heart (4/?)

Author: lilpocketninja

Rating: R

Warnings: Gore and the aftermath there of (CSI-level stuff); language; more plot than romance.

Pairings: Kakashi/Iruka (eventually)

Notes: You can thank/blame Monopoly for the posting of this chapter. That is all.

"To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind." --Theophile Gautier

Kakashi stared out the window with longing, and then sighed just loud enough to be heard. He currently sat in the Hokage's favorite conference room, ignoring her as she went over the jounin's expenses and broke into drunken tirades about being forced to do the job of a low-level desk ninja. Kakashi doubted Iruka would appreciate that. The copy-nin found his thoughts strayed often to Iruka. The smallest things reminded Kakashi of him: walking by Icharaku Ramen, watching pre-genin play in the park, and seeing a dolphin toy in a shop window all echoed his former students' former sensei. Because Kakashi was neither stupid nor inexperienced, he understood exactly what his thoughts meant, but he chose to firmly dismiss them rather than act. Though he could not deny Iruka's attractiveness, things would never work between them. For one thing, Iruka seemed too emotionally healthy. The thought made Kakashi snort; his expression of amusement proved to be a mistake when it drew Tsunade's attention – and ire.

"Do you think our current budget crisis is _funny_, Hatake?" She screeched as she launched a sake bottle at his head. Kakashi knew better than to dodge, so he let it shatter on the wall above his head and held still under the shower of glass and alcohol. Sobered by the loss of good booze, Tsunade deflated and waved one perfectly manicured hand in the air as she slumped over her conference table.

"Do better next year," She mumbled, voice muffled because she had hidden her head in the crook of her arm. Taking the dismissal for what it was, the assembled jounin made a run for the door. The only signs of their presence a second later were two dozen empty Styrofoam cups and a chair that clattered to the floor after someone pushed it back too quickly. As he, too, escaped Kakashi saw Tsunade banging her bejeweled head on the table over his shoulder and he snickered.

On his way outside of Hokage Tower, he caught sight of her two Chunin assistants buzzing around the missions desk. Like everything else, the missions desk reminded him of Iruka. Four days since he had dropped the journals, and he had heard nothing from him yet. Did it take _that_ long to translate a few books? Kakashi decided to check, in case Iruka had learned anything and also in case he might answer the door shirtless again.

After a few minute's mental debate, Kakashi decided to take the rooftops instead of walking through the streets. Using only half of his speed, he soared over Konoha enjoying the almost-flight and taking in his surroundings with a veteran shinobi's all-seeing eye. Even so, he heard the disturbance ahead before he saw it: the unmistakable **crunch** of bones breaking underfoot and wet **squelch** of feet kicking squishy bits. Recognizing the sounds of a fight – or a mobbing – for what they were, Kakashi slowed to a stop a block away from the fight.

Deciding caution would serve the situation more than speed, the copy-nin crept forward through the shadows in wide circles that spiraled every-closer to the cluster of ninja. Who ever was at the center of the group, Kakashi realized, was remaining completely silent even as half a dozen grown men beat him into the ground. Kakashi wondered why as he sent a single shrunken – the only one in his holster – flying into the enemies' back. It hit its target and the man dropped while the others scattered, two making a grab at their prone victim only to fall a second later as Kakashi took advantage of their distraction and slit their throats. The attackers' bodies dropped onto the prone man, but he shoved them off and rolled himself out of the rapidly expanding puddle of blood. Meanwhile, Kakashi caught one of the retreating ninja in a body-binding jutsu. His hold on it almost slipped when the badly-injured Konoha ninja whimpered.

The victim – Kakashi guessed male, but could not be sure – lay curled on the flat concrete roof, with his arm held close and a leg bent out behind him at an unnatural angle. Blood oozed from a head wound, glistening in the light and matting long, dark hair. The man had once worn a standard Konoha uniform, but now the vest lay several feet away and the blue jumpsuit hung shredded around the shivering frame

Without even glancing at his captive, Kakashi used the blunt handle of a kunai to knock him out and released the jutsu before kneeling beside his fellow Konoha shinobi. He had planned to check the man's vitals, but as soon as Kakashi approached he reacted to the movement and flung a senbon at Kakashi's head with surprising force and accuracy. Though he dodged, the blade clipped Kakashi's hair before it embedded with a resounding **whump** in the wooden sign across the street. Moonlight caught the injured nin's terrified face and Kakashi's jaw clenched.

"Iruka!" He barked, hoping the panicked man would at least recognize his voice. Iruka clutched a kunai in one white-knuckled hand, but his tensed shoulders relaxed a fraction.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka asked, his usually strong voice cracking on the last syllable and dissolving into furious coughing. Blood dripped from his swollen lips and down his chin, and Kakashi's chest tightened with familiar worry. He wondered when Iruka had become on one the people he worried about.

"It's me, Iruka," he assured, stepping into the light with his hands held in the air, palms out, and trying to look as non-threatening as a legendary assassin possibly could. Iruka recognized him as soon as he stepped from the shadows and sagged with visible relief.

Kakashi stood above Iruka for a moment before dropping to his knees and running a worried hand over Iruka's face. Iruka flinched away, either afraid of contact or in too much pain to be touched.

"Rock-nin," the Chunin whispered, his voice harsh and low. "Five of them, rogues, lead by a man called Atisu. If you hurry you can catch them and –"

"We have to get you to a hospital right now, Iruka," Kakashi said in a level voice, doing an admirable job of hiding the feeling of panic that wanted to escape.

"Atisu –"

"Can wait. Hold still." Iruka quieted and stilled automatically as Kakashi channeled chakra through his body. Though he had tried to keep his voice light, Kakashi was worried about Iruka. It seemed like enough blood for two ninja coated the rooftop, and Kakashi could tell with a quick scan that the rock-nin had broken a leg, arm, and several ribs at least. Judging by Iruka's coughing up blood, they had done some internal damage as well and Kakashi could only hope to stabilize his charge and get him to Tsunade. While he had seen people walk away from injuries much worse in his life, those people had not been suffering from extreme chakra depletion at the time.

"Okay. I don't think you could handle being teleported right now, so I'm going to have to carry you." Iruka made a small noise that sounded like agreement as Kakashi bit his thumb and spread it over a scroll from his pocket. Pakkun puffed into existence with a long-suffering sigh, but fell silent when he saw the state of Iruka and the rooftop.

"What's going on, boss?" The dog asked, standing beside his master as Kakashi scooped Iruka into his arms. The Chunin schoolteacher proved more solid than Kakashi had thought and he stumbled a moment before shifting their balance and steadying himself.

"You need to lay off the ramen, sensei," he muttered, and Iruka made a sound that was either a snort or a grunt of pain. Louder, Kakashi instructed Pakkun, "Get Bull to guard this guy—" He indicated the unconscious captive with a jerk of his head – "and then go ahead to Tsunade and tell her to get ready to treat Iruka-sensei. After that, see to Ibiki in T&I and get him to pick this guy up and milk him for info on the orphanage attack, Iruka, and someone named Atisu."

"Got it, boss," Pakkun barked sharply before disappearing just as he had come. A few seconds later, Bull appeared. Kakashi did not pause long enough to greet him before taking off over the rooftops the way he had come.

Iruka's head rested in the crook of Kakashi's neck, and he could feel the man's warm breath on his ear. It thrilled and terrified him all at once as the back part of his mind – Kakashi the human, not Kakashi the ninja – raced with other scenarios where he might feel Iruka's breath on his neck. A hitch of that breath and a hiss through clenched teeth jerked Kakashi away from those fantasies, though, as he realized he had been fantasizing about a mortally wounded man.

"We're almost there," Kakashi whispered, unsure of what other assurance to offer. Finally the lights of the hospital became visible in the distance. Kakashi sped up, ignoring Iruka's grunt of protest; the jounin felt the amount of blood soaking his uniform and feared for Iruka if they did not reach Tsunade quickly.

As soon as Kakashi's feet touched the pavement in front of the hospital, four medical nin surged forward to snatch Iruka away and lay him out on a gurney. Tsunade stood a few feet back, but as soon as the group wheeled Iruka away she walked quickly to Kakashi, her high-heeled sandals clicking across the pavement.

"Are you hurt, brat?" She snapped, though the honest worry in her face belied the harsh tone of her voice. It was a contradiction Kakashi had long ago grown used to.

"Nope. Iruka's got several broken bones and some kind of internal damage. He was attacked by a group of rouge stone-nin; I killed two and neutralized one. Iruka told me that their leader's name was Atisu."

Tsunade's face reddened, and then paled. Kakashi nearly took a step backward as he felt the surge of angry chakra flowing around the sannin like an aura. Her tiny red mouth clenched in rage and her hands balled into shaking fists.

"Atisu," She whispered; it was less of a question than a declaration of killing intent. "That bastard won't last long in _my_ village. Get the captured one to Ibiki and make sure he makes the bastard wish he were never born." With that, she turned and stalked back into the hospital – and, Kakashi hoped, to treat Iruka. For a moment he stood outside, staring through the hospital's glass doors and holding another mental debate. After a few seconds' pause, he dashed after the Hokage, who immediately whipped around and glared at him.

"What?" She demanded, still walking but looking over her shoulder. Kakashi hurried behind her.

"Pakkun is getting Ibiki, Bull is guarding the prisoner. I want to be hear when Iruka comes out of surgery."

Tsunade did stop now, and gave him a shrewd if pleased look. Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at her smug half-smile and wondered what he was missing. She said nothing, however, just continued walking and flipping through the thick document Kakashi recognized as Iruka's medical file.

"Tsunade-sensei!" A familiar voice called out from down the corridor, and a pink head darted between people to join the pair. Sakura's face was pinched with worry.

"Sakura-chan. You're back early," Kakashi commented, enjoying frustrating his former pupil despite the gravity of the situation. The young kunoichi scowled at him before turning to Tsunade even as the three of them pushed into the ICU's lobby.

"I heard Iruka-sensei is a patient! What happened?" She asked, her voice holding no trace of the whining, simpering girl she had been only a year ago.

"He was attacked. Several broken bones, possible internal bleeding. You're assisting on examination and surgery. You," now she spoke to Kakashi, "Sit here and wait." Tsunade indicated a cluster of uncomfortable chairs. Kakashi sat obediently as the two women walked further into the unit and past the swinging double doors into surgery.

Kakashi's back began to protest, and as he shifted to find a comfortable position he looked around. Only now, in the quiet and surpassingly empty waiting room did he wonder at his decision to stay here rather than join in the interrogating or track the runaway attackers. He told himself that he had a vested interest in Iruka's survival because only he could translate the journals. Besides, Iruka seemed to have no one else: his parents were dead, their names traced on the memorial stone, and the boy who considered him a father had gone on a journey with no known end. Someone, Kakashi felt, should be there when you came out of an operation. He had spent those first difficult hours of consciousness alone too many times not to empathize.

The hours crawled by slowly, marked by the tick-tick-ticking of a wall clock somewhere down the hall. For the first two, Kakashi read Icha Icha, but then he finished and had to shuffle around in the pile of ancient magazines looking for something else. 'Home and Garden' took up exactly five minutes of his time, and then he was left with nothing but to stare at the white walls of the lobby. He fidgeted, whishing he had something to do. The time stretched on and Kakashi shifted in the hard chair yet again and contemplated the pros and cons of causing mayhem in the Hokage's hospital. Before his mind-numbing boredom could drive the copy-nin to do any thing mischievous or disruptive, the Shizune came back through the double doors.

The young medic-nin's shoulders slumped with exhaustion and her hands shook where they hung limply at her sides; she half-sat, half-fell into the chair beside Kakashi. He gave her a long sideways look as she caught her breath.

"He's stable. Tsunade says he ought to be back on his feet in a few weeks, but it might be a while before he can perform any basic jutsu." Kakashi nodded, he had expected as much.

"Can I see him?" Shizune looked startled, then scowled.

"Kakashi-sensei. Iruka-sensei isn't even awake. He can't possibly help you with your mission!" Her voice rose and took on the same tone Kakashi had heard her use when she scolded the Hokage. Kakashi held his hands up in a universal gesture of peace.

"I just wanted to see him. As a friend." The medic still looked unconvinced, and Kakashi wondered about her relationship with Iruka. Look underneath the underneath was his motto, after all, but before he could draw any conclusions about the sensei and Shizune, Sakura and Tsunade stumbled through the door, leaning on each other. Sakura looked up at Kakashi and smiled softly before dropping onto the floor and leaving the Hokage to stand on her own. Kakashi vacated his chair for the swaying woman and she accepted it with a rare grateful smile. A long moment of silence passed before Shizune cleared her throat and turned to her mentor.

"Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-sensei wishes to visit Iruka-sensei. I told him that Iruka won't be awake for a while—" Tsunade's sharp gaze turned to Kakashi and her mouth twisted into what might be an amused smirk. As he waited for her response, Kakashi wondered again if he were missing something and hoped that in her exhaustion the Hokage would pass on the chance to tease him about something he did not want examined too closely. Much to Shizune's displeasure, Tsunade nodded her permission without comment.

"But, Tsunade-sama—" The darker woman began. The Hokage held up her hand against the protests. From where she sat and leaned against the wall, Sakura watched the interaction between her tow mentors through half-closed eyes.

"He's in room 314," Tsunade called to Kakashi's already retreating back; he held up his hand in a half-salute, half-acknowledgement.

True to Shizune's words, Iruka lay in the hospital cot unconscious. Several purple bruises peppered the teacher's dark skin and his cracked lips moved with the struggle to draw in air. Otherwise the room lay completely silent and shrouded in darkness. Kakashi's sharp eye picked out a chair – a copy of the torture devices from the surgical waiting room – and he dropped onto the cool tile floor. Without trying, Kakashi found his breath falling into the same ragged, even pattern as Iruka's and he felt his eyes drooping.

A few hours later found the sun glaring through the thin hospital curtains and Kakashi suddenly awake but unwilling to open his eyes. He groaned, from the headache and the cracking in his back as he slowly uncurled from his position on the hard floor.

From somewhere above him, he heard a snort and forced his eye open to look into the amused face of Iruka, who was leaning over the bed and observing Kakashi try to recover feeling in his legs.

"I'm getting old," said the copy-nin as he climbed to his feet with the support of the wall. Iruka grinned, then winced as the movement irritated the bruised skin on his face. The silence stretched and became awkward, as Iruka stared at his bandaged knuckles and Kakashi stared at Iruka.

Then, as though remembering something important, Iruka's eyes opened wide and he turned to Kakashi and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Atisu," He ground out between gritted teeth, and Kakashi realized he had never seen the man this angry, even when he chased after his errant students. Then, he had affection and concern for their well being behind his loud frustration, but now his eyes flashed and his jaw clenched and he radiated cold, objective ferocity.

"Atisu?" Kakashi repeated, slowly and in the same tone he might use to calm a nindog gone feral. It did no good, and Iruka clasped his arms tighter, squeezing the shuriken holder until it dug into Kakashi's shoulder.

"The man who attacked me," Iruka also spoke slowly, but in a tone which suggested he was speaking to a very young, very stupid child.

"He escaped." Kakashi wiggled in Iruka's grasp, unwilling to escape at the cost of further harming an injured man. Iruka's hands unclenched and as they dropped to his sides Kakashi saw that they had gone pale, as had Iruka's face as his angry flush drained away and he sagged.

"You didn't follow him?" Iruka asked. Though he now sat limply on the cot, his voice still carried an undercurrent of anger, and Kakashi sensed he might explode again at any moment.

"No. You were looking pretty bad, and if you didn't get to a hospital you would've bled out."

"Catching that man was way more important than rescuing me, Kakashi-san." The tone reminded Kakashi of something else, years ago, and he spat out the rejoinder without conscious thought.

"Those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash." Kakashi expected an argument, but received none. Instead Iruka resumed staring at his hands for a long time before he looked up with the same desperation and – was it sadness? Kakashi only had a moment to analyze it before it slipped from Iruka's face, replaced by the calm outer shell of a serious shinobi. Dark eyes crinkled with determination.

"They're after Naruto. Atisu wants the Kyuubi, and I'm almost certain I know why."

"You finished translating the journals?"

"No, I'm only about halfway through the first. But it's all information on orphans around Naruto's age and Atisu specializes in chakra-theft." Something about the catch in Iruka's voice made Kakashi pause before he asked his next question, unsure if trodding somewhere so raw would really benefit the mission.

Ultimately, though, Konoha came before her shinobi's personal feelings and dramas. The question had to be asked no matter how much Kakashi wanted to avoid it.

"You've tangled with him before, right? Tell me what you know." Iruka looked as though Kakashi had slapped him, though Kakashi suspected the Chunin and anticipated the question. Suspecting that an answer might be a while in coming, Kakashi leaned against a wall and gazed out the window, giving Iruka a moment to collect his thoughts. The man curled into himself, tucking his knees under his chin as Kakashi watched him out of the corner of his eye. Iruka drew a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose.

"I met him when I was a genin. It was during the war; Tsunade-sense was needed outside the village and insisted our team would be fine going with her. A few miles into Earth, we run into a whole squad of Rock jounin. If it had just been five or six, sensei could've taken them no problem, but twenty elite jounin to one sannin and three green genin? No way." Kakashi continued to look out the window as Iruka spoke, following the paths of patients and medic-nin below in the courtyard. He thought about stopping Iruka, going to find out what he needed from Tsunade, but that hitching voice hypnotized him. So Kakashi remained silent, and an observer might have guessed he had fallen asleep standing up. Iruka paused to collect himself and the room's silence was complete except for birds chirping in the tree outside and the distant hospital clatter.

"She—" Iruka began again, but whatever 'she' did would remain a mystery because as he spoke the stillness broke. A large, fierce nurse – the same that had glared hat him a week earlier, Kakashi's nursing nemesis – bustled through the door carrying a tray of bland food and a thick blanket. She stopped at the sight of Kakashi and narrowed her eyes. Dark, thick eyebrows drew down over her squinting eyes and her thick brow cast a shadow that reached down nearly to her tight scowl.

"You," She hissed, and Iruka jumped as though he had only just been drawn out of his on memory by her sharp nasal voice. Kakashi regarded her calmly.

"Maa, what did Iruka do to piss you off?" He asked, in the same drawl he used to taunt his students and other troublesome people in his path. "He's kind of a loudmouth, but he's really an okay guy—"

"You, out!" The nurse hissed, and to demonstrate she pointed a thick red finger shaking with rage. Kakashi watched Iruka's reaction, instead of hers, and was rewarded with seeing the teacher struggle to hide a grin behind a bandaged hand.

"Kicking out a patient?" Why, nurse-san, you should be ashamed! This man needs you help, and just because he's kind of obnoxious—" This time the nurse grab bed Kakashi by the collar of his uniform vest and goose-stepped over to the door. Though he could think of at least twenty ways to kill her without trying, Kakashi dragged along in her wake without protest. She had opened her mouth to tell him off, but they both froze at the sound from the bed. Iruka was laughing. It started with a chuckle, then a snort, then he lost it. Kakashi slumped with relief in the nurse's grasp; over the years he had discovered that laughing, not crying, gave the catharsis Iruka badly needed.

"I'm gong, I'm going," The copy-nin grumbled to the nurse as soon as Iruka's wave of hilarity settled from its manic high to a reflective silence punctuated by the occasional giggle. Kakashi willingly left the room, satisfied with himself.

"Kakashi-sensei! Wait!" Iruka called. Kakashi half-turned at the doorway.

"Um. I'm going to get bored, so I was wondering if you could bring me something to _read_." He put curious weight on the last words and Kakashi remembered their conversation a week earlier, though he was tempted to purposefully misunderstand and show up tomorrow with 'The Complete Icha Icha Box Set.'

"Yeah, sure," he replied easily and gave a miniature salute. This time Kakashi didn't look back; he had to go see a man about a rock.

_**-T**__**o **__**B**__**e **__**C**__**ontinued**__**-**_


End file.
